St. Louis Area Residents Make Up Bulk of Ferguson Arrests; FERGUSON POLICE SHOOTING

Article excerpt

FERGUSON * The perpetrators of violence who have instigated a
response that has filled the air with tear gas the past 10 days are
generally not a presence among the demonstrators protesting the
death of Michael Brown.

Rather, police and peaceful demonstrators say, the rocks, Molotov
cocktails and gunfire directed at police are the product of a small
group of young men who gather furtively as darkness falls near Red's
Barbeque and the adjoining warren of avenues off Canfield Drive the
street where Brown was killed Aug. 9.

St. Louis County Jail records say at least 85 people have been
booked for "refusal to disperse" since Aug. 13, the day before the
Missouri Highway Patrol took command of the situation.

At least 52 protesters were arrested Monday night into Tuesday
morning for refusing to disperse, unlawful use of a weapon and
interfering with a police officer, St. Louis County records say.

All had been released, according to jail officials.

Highway Patrol Capt. Ronald S. Johnson calls some of the
protesters a "dangerous dynamic in the night." Some of those, he has
said, have come to Ferguson from outside the St. Louis area, but
most are local.

"There are some outsiders," Johnson told CNN Tuesday. "There's a
lot of people who live here ... we can't just blame it on outside
instigators."

Jail records available for those arrested Monday night show that
38 of those arrested were from the St. Louis region, including 15
from St. Louis city.

Fourteen have addresses outside the region including Chicago; Des
Moines, Iowa; New York City; Huntsville, Ala.; Washington, D.C.; and
San Diego.

"We continue to worry about folks who are coming in from outside
who are using this," Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon told the Post-Dispatch
on Tuesday.

The governor said the state is working with intelligence experts
on the matter and is in contact with the FBI.

"What started as a peaceful protest has been attracting bad guys
across the country," he said.

Brian Houston, co-director of the Terrorism and Disaster Center
at the University of Missouri-Columbia, predicted Ferguson has not
seen the last of what officials characterize as "outside agitators."

"The longer trouble goes on in Ferguson the more time people have
to come to St. Louis to cause the trouble," Houston said.

Among those arrested were New York City residents Carl Dix, a
member of the Revolutionary Communist Party, and Travis Morales, who
identifies himself as a party supporter.

Reached by phone Tuesday, Morales confirmed the arrests.

The special section dedicated to the events in north St. Louis
County on the organization's website carries the subheadline:
"People are standing up in Ferguson! It's Right to Rebel!"

"It may be about Communism," Ferguson Township Democratic
Committeewoman Patricia Bynes said of a group she has encountered
tangentially in her nightly effort to quell the Ferguson unrest. …

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